ABSTRACT
The period between the Italian Psychoanalysis Congress in 1980 (‘The Analytic Relationship’) and the 1994 congress (‘The Contribution of the Analyst to the Constitution and Maintenance of the Analytic Field’) was both intense and controversial. The concepts of ‘relationship’ and ‘field’ (which appear in the titles of the congresses) contributed to defining the landscape of Italian psychoanalysis during those years. Often they overlap and shade into each other. In telling their story we shall try to clarify the two terms and, where possible, distinguish between them. My description will seek to respect the thinking of a range of different authors and schools. My personal point of view will be left in the background, as it can easily be inferred from the rest of this book.
